I'm not sure i agree with that.  Most of the studies I see include things like "No religious affliation" as meaning Atheist.  Which instead could eaisly mean Agnostic, Part of a religion but no branch or A god exists... I just don't know which."

I mean... more then Jews sure... Blacks and Gays though...

The other problems being that Atheists actually do what people were supposed to do.  They intermingle with society.  To my knowledge there isn't anywhere that is predominantly Atheist.

Also even if there are areas with high levels of Atheists.  They don't really organize... since there are few atheist churches. 

I imagine there are a few "closet" Atheists though.

Well replace atheists with "nontheists" and include everybody who doesn't go to or belong to any church and doesn't follow an organized religion whether they call themselves atheist or not, and you're well over the 10% or so that blacks and 8% or so that gays get.

And then there's the problems with Atheist Jews, who were raised Jewish, but don't believe it, don't read the book, don't pay, don't attend the services, but still refer to themselves as Jews in pools because they're culturally Jewish. I don't know about you, but I'd count them as Atheists.

There were closet Atheists at my Catholic high school. I still know a lot of people who are Atheists but when asked, they kinda waffle on it, and say "I was raised Catholic, but I don't go to church anymore, I guess I might be Agnostic." But when other people aren't around, they will freely admit to being Atheist.

 How very sexist of you.

@RubangB,

The beauty of a representative Democracy is not that you are automatically represented by someone like you, but that you have the choice to run for government in order to represent people like you. The fact that some groups are under-represented probably has a lot to do with how sleazy politics in the US are, and if you enter into politics people will take joy in spreading moronic rumors about you like your children are really your grandchildren, or you have tried to ban books at your local library.

I'm not saying the opposite is true, but Margaret Thatcher anyone?

It's actually because the majority of people think that atheists are immoral because they don't fear an afterlife, and they believe that without fear of repercussions, nothing stops them from being evil.  Blacks and gays have morality because they believe in G-d.

I don't think my spreading of moronic rumors about a really bad inexperienced hypocrite V.P. pick is what keeps atheists from getting elected.

But I don't know, you porbalby know more about U.S. politics than I do.

My suggestion isn't that sleazy American politics prevents people from being elected, I'm suggesting that sleazy American politics prevents people for running for office. Look at any other western political system and you will see far more diversity at all levels of office, and in all political parties, and I suspect this is because people are not subject to Tabloid styled "News" stories surrounding them and their families.

Up until recently I wondered why the United States seemed to be the only country in the western world who hadn't had a women in their highest office. When I saw how Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were treated by the Democrats (the supposed "protectors of tolerance and open-mindedness") I started to wonder how the suffrage movement ever took off in the United States.

There are several people who say they would never vote for Atheists because they can't vote for people who don't believe in a moral authority outside of themselves. They assume all Atheists are immoral hedonist nihilists.

It's not because I'm a Democrat that I loathe Sarah Palin. It's because she's a total Hail Mary desperation attempt and a joke. A lot of Republicans agree. Her approval rating is plummeting and she's flip-flopping like crazy about investigations that she supported and her Republican congress voted for.

Ooh, and the Suffrage Movement was awesome as hell. The Suffrage Movement was almost entirely run by badass hardcore lesbians. Other women were fighting the suffragists and thought politics were just for stupid men, and America needed disciplined housewives to raise kids, teach them, and cook and clean, to protect our families. These women were sexist as hell against themselves (kinda like Palin who thinks women should shut up and work harder instead of "whining"). People accused Susan B. Anthony of being a man when she was giving speeches, and she'd bust out her titties to shut everybody up. Some of these suffragists would get married, but marry awesome rich feminist guys who would help them protest and pay for them to travel around, and the hardcore radical lesbian wing of the suffragists would completely ostracize these married women and try to kick them out of the movement, saying that once they get with a man they're working for the enemy. The suffragist movement was seriously the most badass radical social movement in U.S. history. I really have no idea how it got so successful either.